In the summer of 2010, I had the privilege to work at Jay Wright's Basketball Camp at Villanova University. Coach Wright is a two time Big East Coach of the Year. This camp is one of most professionally run camps I have had the opportunity to work at. Working at Villanova allowed me to meet great coaches, players, and of course managers.
This past season, Villanova was featured on ESPN College-Game Day. One of the segments featured on ESPN was the inspiring story of two Villanova Managers who suffer from Cerebral Palsy, Nick Gaynor and Frankie Kineavy, the latter of which I had the opportunity to meet.
Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright
During Coach Wright's camp he set aside a film session to show the campers a documentary on these two incredible managers made by a group of Villanova students. It was amazing to see how much of a role Coach Wright played in Frankie's life by giving him the opportunity to serve as a manager. At the end of the video Coach Wright made all the 250+ campers go up and introduce themselves to Frankie. The smile Frankie had on his face was unforgettable. Much to their credit, these two young men are very smart and have overcome some unfortunate life obstacles. One thing Coach Wright stressed was that "he never received more phone calls for Frankie to be given an opportunity to serve the Wildcats as a manager than he has any other player he has recruited".
This story is remarkable, it demonstrates how a sport's figure can make an immense impact on a young man or women's life.
Check out the video that was featured on ESPN and see these two extraordinary student managers.
No comments:
Post a Comment